Clothes drying machine



May 15, 1962 Filed April 1, 1959 D. W. LYNCH CLOTHES DRYING MACHINEF'IGI 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

DONAL-D W. LYNCH BY @gfzimmz Hi5 ATTORNEY 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 D. W. LYNCHCLOTHES DRYING MACHINE HIS ATTORNEY AWN/{I7 r.... n n ..n.. u I I 1 l I:iiiw. l llllllllrlll Z 4 n n 4 G RW I HIH I I I I II IM |Ur www nu .l..i lrilfll May 15, 1962 Filed April 1, 1959 May 15, 1962 D. w. LYNCHCLOTHES DRYING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 1, 1959 F'IG.4

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United States Patent 3,034,223 CLGTIES DRYBJG MACHINE Donald W. Lynch,Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation ofNew York Filed Apr. 1, 195%, SenNo. 803,459

' 9 Claims. (Cl. 34-79) This invention relates to clothes dryingmachines, and more particularly to such machines which are provided witharrangements for automatically disposing of lint from the clotheswithout any attention being required from the operator of the machine.

Most clothes drying machines now available are of the type wherein aforced draft of heated air is used to achieve vaporization of moistureout of the clothes. This process tends to generate a substantial amountof lint which is carried away from the clothes with the draft of air andwhich must somehow or other be disposed of. The general approach towarddisposal of the lint has been to provide suitable trap means for thelint, which is then cleaned by the machine operator at suitable inter-However, various arrangements have also been proposed whereby the lintis automatically consumed, and thus requires no attention from theoperator of the machine. In such arrangements, it is of prime importancethat the consumption of the lint require as little additional energyinput to the machine as possible. One reason for this is that the moreadditional energy consumed the more the increase in the cost of runningthe machine; another and equally important reason is the fact that manyelectric clothes dryers have power consumptions which already approachthe limit of capacity of the wiring in many homes, and any further powerconsumption in such cases must be subtracted from the power useddirectly for clothes drying purposes.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improvedclothes dryer wherein a lint consuming arrangement using very littleenergy is provided.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved dryerwherein the energy required for lint consumption is kept to a minimum bycatching the lint directly in the path of the forced draft of air, andthen removing the lint from the forced draft of air before attempting toconsume it by burning it, whereby the coolatmosphere so that the draftof air, after passing through the container, may then be exhausted. Inorder to consume the lint which is carried from the clothes into theexhaust duct arrangement, I provide a duct portion which has arelatively small cross sectional area together with a screen memberwhich has a substantially larger area. The screen member extends intothe duct portion so as to form a lint catching barrier and is movablymounted so that during its movement at least a part of the screen memberis alternately inside and outside the duct portion. When the lint whichhas been caught by the screen member inside the duct is carried by thescreen member to the outside of the duct, it comes to a positionadjacent a heat source positioned outside the duct portion. The heatsource then consumes the lint by burning it; a minimum of energy isrequired for the process since it takes place in virtually still airwithout any cooling eifect from moving currents of air.

The subject matter which I regard as my invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of thisspecification. However, my invention, both as to organization and methodof operation together with further objects and advantages thereof,

may best be understood by reference to the following description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings. I

In the drawings,

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a clothes dryer incorporating myimproved lint consumer, the view being partially broken away andpartially sectionalized to illustrate details;

FIGURE 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the dryer of FIGURE 1, withthe drum removed and with certain surfaces broken way and partiallysectionalized to illustrate further details;

FIGURE 3 is a view along line 33 in FIGURE 1, partly broken away inorder to show details;

FIGURE 4 is a view along line 44 in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a view along line 55 in FIGURE 3; and 1 FIGURE 6 is anenlarged cross-sectional viewflof a portion of the screen shown inFIGURESA and 5.

Referring now to FIGURES land 2, I have shown therein a domestic clothesdryer 1. The dryer includes aclothes tumbling receptacle or drum 2provided within a suitable outer casing or cabinet 3 which completelyencloses it on all sides. The drum is mounted for rotation within thecabinet on a substantially horizontal axis. and is generally cylindricalin shape, having a first central outer wall portion 4, second and thirdouterwall portions 5 and 6 located respectively adjacent the ends of thedrum, a back wall 7, and a front wall 8. Outer wall sections 4, 5 and6are imperforate over their entire lengths, so that the entire outershell of the basket is imperforate; on the interior surface of centralportion 4 there is provided a plurality of clothes tumbling ribs 9. p

The front of drum 2 is rotatably supported on the outer the base 13 ofthe machine (FIGURE 1). It will be observed that rollers 10 and 11 aredisposed beneath the drum in contact with portion 6 thereof so that thedrum is supported on the rollers and is free to rotate. The rear end ofdrum 2 receives its support from a roller wheel 13 which is positionedbeneath the portion 5 of the drum in supporting and frictionally drivingengageinent therewith. While there is obviously a wide choice ofsuitable materials for the driving engagement, one proven efiectivecombination includes steel plate for the drum and relatively hardrubber(on the order of 60 durometer units of hardness) for the roller 13.

Roller 13 is mounted on ashaft 14 supported in a bearing 15; at one endof shaft 14 is secured a pulley 16 driven from a belt 17 in turn poweredby a pulley 18 mounted on the end of shaft 19 of an electricmotor 20'.The motor, pulleys, and roller 13 are so proportioned to the drum and toeach other that drum}. is rotated by roller 13 at an appropriate speedto provide tumbling action or articles of clothing placed therein. Itwill be observed that with the driving arrangement described, thedriving roller 13 provides the entire support for the rear end of drum 2so that the force with which the drum presses down on it is a directreflection of the weight of the clothes in the basket. In order that astream of drying air may be introduced into and passed through theclothes drum, the drum is provided with a central aperture 21in itsfront wall 8 and with a plurality of perforations 22 extending in anannulus around its back wall 7. Rigidly secured to the rear wall 23 ofcasing 3 by any desired means such as, for instance, Welding at suitablepoints 24, is a bafile rnember 2.5 which has secured thereto heatingelements 26 appropriately insulated from the baflie member. Heatingelements 26 m'ay be annular in shape so as to be gen- 7 and within thestationary bafile 25 so that an annular air inlet 28 is in eifect formedby the two baffi es 25 and 27 is further provided with an annular seriesof openings 29; in this manner the baffles form inlet duct. means, and apassage is provided for air to enter annular inlet 28 between thebafiles, pass over the heating elements 26 i v thereby to be warmed,through openings 29, and then through perforations 22 into theinteriorof drum her 2.

In order to secure drum 2 so that it is supported by the roller members.10, Ill and 13. without any undue horizontal motion but with areasonably limited and permissible amount of vertical motion, a suitablethrust bearing arrangement, such as that generally indicated at 29a isprovided in baffle member 25 to receive a stub shaft 29b secured tobattle member 27. Ihe bearing arrangement 29a permits the entire weightof the drum 2 and HEID- vits contents to be taken up by the rollermembers while at the same time preventing any tendency towarddisplacement of the drum in any horizontal direction. The

construction including bearing arrangement 29a is described in fulldetail and is claimed in application Serial No. 789,869 filed January29, 1959, now Patent 3,009,259 by William L. Simpson and assigned toGeneral Electric Company, assignee of the present invention.

The front opening 21 of the drum is substantially closed by means of astationary bulkhead generally indicated at 30. Bulkhead 30 is made up ofa number of adjacent members including the inner surface 31 of an accessdoor 32 mounted on the dryer cabinet, a stationary frame 33 for thedoor, the inner surface 34 of an exhaust duct 35 leading from the drum,and an annular flange 36 mounted on the frame 33 and on the duct wall.It will be noted that .a suitable clearance is provided between theinner edge of the drum opening 21 and the edge of bulkhead '30 so thatthere is no rubbing between the drum and the bulkhead during rotation ofthe drum. In order to prevent any substantial air leakage throughopening 21 between the interior and the exterior of the drum a suitablering seal 37, preferably formed'of felt-like material, is secured toflange 36in sealing relationship with the exterior surface. of drum wall8 Front opening 21, in addition to serving as part of the air flow paththrough the drum, also serves as a means whereby clothes may be loadedinto and unloaded from the drum. The door 32, .whoseinner surface formspart of the bulkhead 30 closing the opening, is mounted on cabinet 3 andwhenthe door is opened the clothes may be inserted into or removed fromthe drum through the door frame 33. It will be noted that the doorincludes an outer imperforate section 38' and an inwardly extendinghollow section 39 mounted on the flat outer section. Hollow section 39extends into the door frame 33 when the door is closed, and the doorsurface 31 which comprises part of the combination bulkhead 30 isactually the inner wall of this hollow section. The air outlet from thebasket is provided by a perforated opening 40 formed in'the inner Wall31 of hollow door section 39. The'bottom wall of door section 39 and theadjacent wall of door frame'33 are provided with'aligned openings 41 and42, with opening 42 providing the entrance toduct 35.

' Duct 35 leads through a duct portion 43 of reduced cross sectionalarea to suitableair moving means which may, a s shown comprise acentrifugal blower 44 mounted on the motor shaft and thus driven bymotor 20. The outlet of blower 44 'communicates with an outlet duct 45which extends to an opening 46 in the rear wall 23 of cabinet 3. Thus,ducts 35 and 45 and blower 44 to gether form exhaust duct means carryingair from the container out to atmosphere. .During operation of motor 29,the rotation of blower 44 causesair to be drawn into cabinet 3 throughsuitable openings such as, for instance, opening 46a to atmosphere,through annular opening 28 over heaters 26, through openings 29 andperforations 22 into drum 2, across the drum, through perforated opening40 and aligned openings 41and 42 into duct 35, and then through ductportion 43, and blower 44 0 Outlet duct 45 and opening 46 to atmosphere.7

As stated above, when the air passes through drum 2 during rotation ofthe drum, the combination of the tumbling action of the clothes and themovement of the air evolves a substantial amount of lint, the amountvary ing somewhat with the type of clothes being dried. In order tocompletely remove the burden of disposing of the lint from the operatorwith only an exceedingly small increase in the power consumption of thedryer, a suit able lint consuming arrangement is provided in cooperativerelation to exhaust duct35, more specifically at the necked-down portion43 thereof.

Referring now to FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 together with FIGURE 1, there isprovided a screen member 47 which is positioned to form a lint catchingbarrier across duct portion 43. As can best be seen by reference to FIG*URES 3 and 5, the screen area is substantially larger than the crosssectional area of duct portion 43. In one desirable arrangement, asshown, the cross sectional shape,

of duct portion 43 is substantially on the order of a semis circle, andthe screen 47 is substantially circular with a diameter approximatelyequal to that of the semi-circular duct portion. At its base, the screenis supported by a driving roller member 48, and its position withrespect to duct portion 43 is maintained by the provision of a pair ofidler roller members 49 and 59; all three roller members engage the flatrim 51 of screen member 47 Each idler member is supported at one end bymeans of a rigid screen housing member. 51a and at the other. end

by means of a second rigid screen housing member 52;

together the two members 51a and 52, in addition to providing supportfor the roller members 49 and 50, form an enclosure or housing for thatpart of the screen member 47 which extends outside duct portion 43. v

Driving roller 48 is part of any suitable speed r'educ= tion assembly 53which is secured to the base 54 of me n ber 51a. As shown, the roller 48prefei'ably receives its driving power through the speed reductionassembly 53 from a pulley 54a and belt 55, which in turn receive powerfrom a pulley 56 mounted on shaft 14. Thus, the same motor 20 whichrotates 2 and blower 44 also causes rotation of screen member 47. Therotation of the screen member is preferably'very slow; for instance, itmay be on the order of three revolutions per hour either at a steadyspeed or by a series of impulses, depending on the char acter of thespeed reduction assembly.

With the foregoing structure, screen 47 rotates slowly during operationof the machine. As a result (as shown in FIGURE 5 a substantial part ofthe screen alternately passes through opening 56a (formed between theduct portion and the enclosure ofmembers 51a and 52) into alignment withduct portion 43 and then passes entirely out of alignment with the ductportion into the enclosure. As a result, that portion of the screen 47which is positinned between members 51:: and 5-2 is, in effect, in anarea of complete calm where there are virtually no air currents at all,the main air current passing directly through the duct portion 43 andthat part of the screen 47 which is aligned with it, and then throughopening 57 into the centrifugal blower 44.

Closely adjacent the part of the screen enclosed by members 51a and 52is a suitable heat source, preferably of the electrical resistance type,which in the present case is provided by a quartz lamp 58 supported in amom ber 59 which is rigidly secured to member 51a. The heat lamp 58 isinalignment with an opening 60 in member 51a so that the lamp 58 is in.radiant heat relation to that part of screen 47 which passes oppositethe opening 60. The heating effect of lamp 58 is' such that it causescombustion of lint adhering to that portion of the screen 47 which iswithin the space enclosed by members 51a and 52 The products ofcombustion, which are almost unnoticeable because of the slow rate atwhich lint is fed into the combustion area, then fall by the simpleaction of gravity through opening 56:! into duct portion 43 and arecarried out through duct 45.

Because the heat source 58 and the part of screen 47 outside ductportion 43 are entirely removed from the path of the air flow, thecombustionoi the lint is efiected with only a small increase in thepower consumption requirements. For instance, it has been experimentallydetermined that whereas an average of approximately 5,000 watts isrequired to operate such a machine where there is no lint consumption,the added wattage required to efiect the lint consumption with thearrangement shown is only about 225 watts, which represents an increaseof only 4 /2 percent. The automatic consumption of the lint is thuseffected with a power increase which is so small that it is virtuallyunnoticeable under ordinary user conditions.

Due to the slow rotation of the screen, the lint is burned continuouslyand in very small quantities. In fact, the burning rate of lintapproximates only of the burning rate of a cigarette, and is thusvirtually unnoticeable. It can also be seen that the location of thelint consuming apparatus upstream of the blower is preferable in that iteliminates fouling of the blower by unconsumed lint. Also, the provisionof an enclosure for the heat source and the burning lint eliminates allpossibility of a the hazard existing within the machine shouldcombustible matter be located close to the heat source.

The exceedingly small smoke and odor generation of my invention can beimproved even further by the use of appropriate catalysts. Thus, forinstance, when the individual wires 62 (see FIGURE 6) forming screenmember 47 (or another screen member downstream of screen member 47) aresprayed with a thin coating 61 of a material such as platinum,palladium, or a mixture of the two, smoke and odor both virtuallydisappear. The terms platinum and palladium include, of course,compounds such as platinum chloride and palladium chloride where thenoble metal is still the main effective agent.

While a rotatable screen, as described, is a preferred arrangement forachieving the movable relationship be-- tween the duct portion and thescreen member, the in vention in its broader aspects is not so limited.For instance, suitable lint consumption is obtainable by moving a screenin a reciprocating relationship to the duct portion, particularly if aheat source is provided at each end of the screen so that lint at eachend of such a screen is consumed as that end moves out of the ductportion.

While in accordance with the patent statutes I have shown what atpresent is considered to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, itwill be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the invention, and Itherefore aim to cover in the appended claims all such equivalentvariations as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A clothes dryer comprising a clothes container; means for providing adraft of warm air through said container; exhaust duct means for the airconnecting said container to atmosphere; and means for consuming lintcarried from the clothes into said exhaust duct means; said lastmentioned means comprising a duct having a first cross sectional area, ascreen member having a second substantially greater area positionedextending across said duct to form a lint catching barrier thereacross,said screen member being movably mounted and positioned a part thereofto alternately intercept and then be removed from said duct, means formoving said screen me-m her, and a low energy heat source positionedoutside said duct adjacent that part of said screen member which is alsooutside said duct for burning lint caught on said part of said screenmember.

2. A clothes dryer comprising a clothes container; means for providing adraft of warm air through said container; exhaust duct means for the airconnecting said container to atmosphere; and means for consuming lintcarried from the clothes into said exhaust duct means; said lastmentioned means comprising a duct having a first cross sectional-area, ascreen member having a sec ond substantially greater area positionedextending across said duct to form a lint catching barrier thereacross,said screen member being rotatably mounted and positioned so thatrotation of said screen member causes at least a part thereof toalternately intercept and then be removed from said duct means forrotating said screen member, and a low energy heat source positionedoutside said duct adjacent that part of said screen member which is alsooutside said duct for burning lint caught on said part of said screenmember.

3. A clothes dryer comprising: clothes tumbling means including arotatable clothes container; inlet duct means and exhaust duct meanseach connecting said container to atmosphere; means for creating a draftof air from said inlet duct means through said container to said exhaustduct means; means for heating air prior to its passage into saidcontainer; and means for consuming lint carried from the clothes intosaid exhaust duct means; said last mentioned means comprising a ducthaving a first cross sectional area, a screen member having a secondsubstantially greater area positioned extending across said duct to forma lint catching barrier thereacross, said screen member being rotatablymounted and positioned so that rotation of said screen member causes atleast a part thereof to alternately intercept and then be removed fromsaid duct, means for rotating said screen member, and a low energy heatsource positioned outside said duct adjacent that part of said screenmember which is also outside said duct for burning lint caught on saidpart of said screen member.

4. The apparatus defined in claim 3 wherein said draft creating means ispositioned in said exhaust duct means downstream of said means forconsuming lint.

5. The apparatus defined in claim 3 wherein common drive means areprovided in rotative relation both to said container and to said screenmember.

6. The apparatus defined in claim 4 wherein members are provided formingan enclosure for the part of said screen member outside said duct andfor said heat source, said enclosure having an opening formed incommunication with said duct to accommodate said screen member, wherebyproducts of combustion pass back into said duct through said opening.

7. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said heat source is anelectrical resistance device.

8. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein a smoke eliminating catalystis provided downstream of the point at which lint is burned.

9. The apparatus defined in claim 8 wherein said catalyst is a noblemetal selected from the group consisting of platinum, palladium, andmixtures thereof.

References titted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS839,797 Wood Dec. 25, 1905 2,658,742 Suter et al. Nov. 10, 19532,809,025 Pettyjohn Oct. 8, 1957 isclaimer 3,034,223.D0nald W. Lynch,uisville, Ky.

Patent dated May 1 1%62. Disclanner filed Feb. 25, 1963, by assignee,General E 016mg Company. Hereby enters this disclaimer to claims 1, 2,3,

[Oflicial Gazette May 28, 1963.]

CLUIHES DRYING MACHINE. the

4, 5, 7 8 and 9 of said patent.

